Obama and the Fiscal Cliff

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Obama told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Republicans are responsible for the stalemate that brought lawmakers back to Capitol Hill on a Sunday afternoon.

“They say that the biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way. But the way they’re behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected,” Obama said. “That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme,”

To be clear, there is only one party in these negotiations that have, as their entire offer, a single overriding theme. And that is the President himself. The President’s entire offer, the whole of it, consists of raising taxes on the wealthy.

And that’s it.

No spending cuts. No entitlement reforms. No talk about any effort to reduce the deficit or attack the debt.

Just tax the rich. And he knows that this isn’t going to address any of the problems we face, on the contrary – it will only make it worse.

But if that was the only aspect of Obama’s confusion, he could be forgiven. We know that he’s nothing more than a class warrior who hasn’t an inkling of a clue on anything economic. But he should know how bills make their way through Capital Hill:

Obama said the Senate should vote on legislation to make sure middle-class taxes are not raised and that 2 million people don’t lose unemployment benefits .

The Senate doesn’t initiate financial bills; the House does. And they have. Two of them. Both waiting for Reid and the democrats to take them up, amend them and vote on them. The pressure is squarely on the Senate right now. Not the republicans.

5 responses to “Obama and the Fiscal Cliff”

Actually the Senate can initiate such a bill and the House can pass it. It’s been done many times. Obama’s not confused, he’s got the political upper hand. If he were to give more to the GOP it would be poor negotiating and poor politics on his part. You may disagree with his position, but he’s playing it well.

He is doing what any President would. And the only reason you don’t think it is for the good of the nation is that you disagree with his preferences. Those who agree with him think he’s being tough on the Republicans for the good of the nation. I think he’s displaying the traits that will cause him to be remembered as one of the great ones. Time will tell, I guess.

Obama has never been serious about the budget . His negotiating is pure BS . This is all about beating the House Republicans and nothing else . This Clown has spent us into bankruptcy yet all we hear is how unreasonable Republicans are . It is like dealing with a compulsive gambler . He cannot stop . At some point the experts around him are going to have to rein him in .

The whole Democratic Party and their Propaganda Press is in a mass psychotic delusion . It’s like California, Greece, and the Chicago School District on steroids .